Changes ahead for Cape Playhouse, arts campus

The new leader of Cape Cod Center for the Arts is vowing to make Cape Playhouse and its campus a more vital year-round presence in both the Dennis and arts communities, but told supporters Friday that he needs their time and money to make that happen.

In a public introduction as the new playhouse producer and center chief executive, Mark Cuddy displayed energy, enthusiasm and humor as he gave about 50 people gathered at Cape Cinema a glimpse of changes he plans to make to give the complex more stability with its finances and within the community. Richard B. Hawes, Jr., president of the board of trustees, also made it clear that this appointment marks a major shift in mission and tone at both the 87-year-old theater and the 22-acre campus that also houses the independently run cinema, Cape Cod Museum of Art and a restaurant.

Cuddy noted the theater is among the last survivors of what was once a thriving “straw-hat circuit” of summer stock companies. “You have held on. … You’re the exception,” he told the crowd. “Yet we’re now in a landscape that has changed. … Now things are more mobile and we have to adapt to being in this American landscape and being fully non-profit and what that means.”

To do that, he asked supporters for four things: enthusiasm and advocacy; investment of their time as volunteers and more of their “treasure” (monetary donations); patience, because “I work quickly, but it’s going to take a little time”; and a willingness to try new things he’s planning. Cuddy spoke about “building a community” as being vital to running a theater, and made a clear invitation to arts supporters and other local arts organizations to join in.

Hawes made references to the Disney legend when describing the goals of creating more synergy between the arts institutions on the campus, as well as with the town; making the campus more of a year-round mid-Cape destination; and better using the land and facilities there. The Disney mantra also applies here, he said: “Dream it, then do it, and anything is possible.”

Cuddy replaces artistic director Evans Haile, whose contract ended in September after 14 years at the playhouse. The trustees created the new producer-CEO position with more responsibility for Cuddy so the more than 33-year veteran of running non-profit theaters could help to secure the future of the theater and entire Dennis arts campus that have been struggling financially in recent years.

Cuddy has been visiting the Cape since childhood, got his first theater job as an intern at Falmouth Playhouse and bought an East Dennis home two years ago. “That was, for me, home – where I wanted to be for the rest of my life,” he said Friday. Cuddy has been artistic director for 18 years at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY – which has become the largest producing theater in New York state outside Manhattan — and will continue in that job and as co-CEO there while leading Cape Playhouse.

Cuddy thanked the trustees for being willing to make hard changes and “take a leap” with him. Some highlights from Friday’s wide-ranging speeches and question-and-answer session:

— Cuddy plans to announce the 2014 playhouse season in January, and it will include a “broader repertory” of shows, mixing musicals and non-musicals vs. the musicals-heavy programming of recent summers. Choices will be “appropriate for summer stock,” he said, but it’s also “important that we have plays that resonate.” Each production will be made “an event,” he said.

— Children’s programming will continue and special events will be added around the six main summer shows.

— Some shows will be shared with Geva, which produces 13 to 15 shows in each of its September to May seasons. Perhaps, in the future, there will also be co-productions with other professional theater companies, he said, because “that’s part of the landscape now.”

— Pre-show programming called “Prologue,” a tradition Cuddy first established when working in Sacramento years ago, will be added to every performance of every show. It will be a free half-hour talk about the context or history of the show, about the playwright or about the play’s background. “It’s a way for the audience to enter the world that we’re creating for you,” he said, before the show actually begins.

— Fixing up the theater itself, as allowed under restrictions to a historic building, is a top goal so seats are better and the stage can be used for more modern shows. “We have to bring the playhouse into the 21st century with its physical plant,” Cuddy said.

— Learning will be added to the theater experience, with other opportunities possible for the audience besides Prologue, as well as internships and education for young people – even during the off-season.

— Special events and opportunities will be planned for supporters, including chances to meet the artists involved and other backstage experiences with shows

— Hawes said having a thriving restaurant is important to the success of the campus, but the seasonality of the area makes that a challenge. How to integrate the restaurant into the overall arts center plan is under discussion.

— Cuddy promised “transparency” in planning for the future and said he will be in touch often with supporters regarding news and requests. “Those who don’t like email, get over it,” he said with a smile. “It’s here to stay and that’s the fastest way for me to communicate.”

— Cuddy wants to plan more events where he can meet members of the community and potential supporters, including gatherings that he’s asking supporters to host. “Plan your holiday parties with me in mind,” he said half-jokingly, as he detailed the time around Christmas that he and his family will be on the Cape.

— When one audience member asked about having better recording and maintenance of the theater’s storied past, Cuddy agreed that the “87 years of amazing history and legacy” is important to preserve, particularly on the road to the playhouse’s centennial. But in that decade between the 90th and 100th birthdays, he said, he wants to be “working toward a final vision of the center and the playhouse” that would celebrate the past while, more importantly, turning the campus into the arts destination it can be for the future.

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